SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KCBS/BCN) -- An 11-year-old boy died when he was unable to escape from a mound of sand that collapsed on him and two other boys at a Santa Cruz beach Saturday afternoon, a California State Parks spokesman said Sunday.
The three boys were climbing on sand stones behind Natural Bridges State Beach and apparently went into an opening of sand about 30 feet above sea level, according to Chip Bockman, a California State Parks lifeguard supervisor.
"There must have been an opening of some kind created by the sand stone, and they crawled into that opening and that collapsed," Bockman said.
Emergency personnel received a call at about 4:20 p.m. that several children had been buried in the sand, according to Bockman.
A 9-year-old boy and a 10-year-old boy were dug out within 5 minutes, but it took rescue crews nearly 20 minutes to find the third boy, Bockman said.
The 11-year-old was pulled from the sand at about 4:37 p.m. and transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Bockman.
The beach remained open after the incident, but state parks officials surrounded the area of the sand collapse with plastic barricades, Bockman said.
State parks officials plan to evaluate the sand stone area Tuesday, Bockman said.
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